A Life Continues
by claire83
Summary: A sequel to A Life Ironic, apparently I am bad at both summaries and titles. Rose and the Doctor continue life aboard the TARDIS joined by some of our favorite companions. On hiatus currently. Hopefully not permanently.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Working on editing and replacing the existing chapters of this story too before I start posting new content.

**Original author's note: **So, this is the sequel to A Life Ironic, and probably won't make a whole lot of sense unless you have read that. Happy to finally have posted my first chapter of this, and I hope it is enjoyed. A warning ahead of time, I will try my best to update weekly, but between work and school, and well… life, it might be a wee bit slow. Also, it's looking to be a long one judging by what I have outlined.

I own very little. Sadly, no Doctor Who in there, aside from some dvds which don't help much despite being awesome.

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

The Doctor peeked over the pages of the book he had been pretending to read to glance at his companion. Rose Tyler was sitting in a chair across from him at the table in the TARDIS kitchen and doing a crossword. He had racked his brain quite thoroughly and couldn't really remember a time when Rose had been overly fond of crosswords. He had always been aware of the fact that she was brilliant, but it made sense he supposed that she had grown into that brilliance while away from him.

It was both fantastic and mildly depressing; they had yet to figure out how exactly to deal with the elephant in the room that was her years of experience with his other self. Their way of dealing with it so far had been to simply avoid speaking about those years, the problem with that being that it was the majority of her life. They had fallen rather comfortably into the relationship they had had before, but it was overshot with the potential for more. There was definite meaning to the lingering glances and touches that was difficult to ignore, and the Doctor knew that in order for them to move past this somewhat awkward stage in their relationship they would need to address the gulf of years that had separated them.

He wondered if that was what his other self had meant about making memories and getting past things, about making memories of the struggle to be together. He had some difficulty thinking that this awkwardness was a good thing.

She had what he thought was absolutely the most adorable habit of twirling her pen while running her fingernail under the clip on the side of it. Well… he supposed that it might not be the most absolutely adorable thing, the way her hair looked while she blearily went for her morning cup of tea might hold that spot, but it was most definitely the most adorable way he had ever seen someone work a crossword.

The Doctor noticed rather suddenly that her hand movements had stopped and he looked up to meet her bemused gaze. He grinned slightly sheepishly as she smiled back, "Are you all right there Doctor?"

"Quite, yes. And you?"

Rose tilted her head to the side slightly and tapped her pen to the paper in front of her, "Well, aside from trying to figure out a six letter word for fake hair, I am reasonably well. I don't suppose you feel like telling me what you were thinking about just then? You looked a bit… well, daft." Her smile widened into a grin as he sputtered slightly at her statement, drawing himself up with false self-importance.

"I will have you know, Rose Tyler, that I was thinking very important thoughts, solving the mysteries of the universe and what not." The Doctor stretched his hands out in front of him, cracking his knuckles, the book falling to the table completely disregarded. "I might also have been contemplating where we should go next." His hands came apart and he tapped the fingers of his right hand absently on the table, "Do you have any requests?"

Rose leaned back in her chair, setting the crossword on the table and tapping it with her pen, she stopped and grinned when she noticed that they were both of them nervously tapping something. She looked into the Doctor's face and guessed at what he might actually have been thinking earlier. It was hard telling she supposed, but she wondered if it might have something to do with the way things were going between the two of them. Aside from a single kiss outside of her room and the dancing after their rather disastrous picnic, they were definitely taking things slowly.

She thought back to John, and the ridiculous amount of time she had wasted tiptoeing around their relationship, it really had been quite stupid of her. Rose determined not to do that again. They needed to talk, she decided. And they seemed unlikely to do it here. "Actually, I do." She smiled at him and stood, grabbing his hand and tugging him after her as she left the room. She continued speaking as they made their way to the console room. "First though, I would like to stop off in Cardiff." She glanced over her shoulder at the Doctor and rolled her eyes at his wary expression. "I just need some things from my flat. Won't take a bit. And we did promise Jack we would visit."

The Doctor's voice took on a quality that could almost be called whining as he approached the console, obviously entering the coordinates she had requested, even as he complained about it. "But Rose, I'm not a 'visitor' I don't just, pop in for tea. It takes away from the whole, 'mysterious mad man with a box' thing."

"That really the image you're going for?" Taking in his expression, Rose rolled her eyes and played along. "Your name is Doctor. That's still -very- mysterious. I promise." Rose smiled up at him as she held on to the console near him. She did her best not to reach out for the stabilizers as they came in for another bumpy landing, enjoying too much the nearly child like glee that crossed the Doctor's face as he pushed the final lever and they jolted to a stop. The Doctor straightened his bow tie and stepped from the console holding out a hand, smiling as Rose took it and they started for the door.

"So, Rose, before you ask 'when' we are, I will tell you. First of all, toupee. Secondly, it is one year from when we dropped off our erstwhile companion Jack." He swung their linked hands as he opened the doors with a snap of his fingers. The icy air that blew into the TARDIS belied the statement and he stumbled to a stop. He shot a sheepish look over to Rose and smiled in answer to the bemused smile on her face. "We-ell, we don't like to do things exact like anyway do we?"

The Doctor pulled off his jacket and held it out as Rose shrugged into it, deciding that he had recovered the moment rather suavely all in all.

The jacket safely on, Rose reclaimed his hand and led the way out of the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>Jack watched from about half a block away as the Doctor terrorized some poor book vendor. Jack had left his office when the TARDIS alert had sounded and then had walked slowly to where sensors indicated it had landed.<p>

He was somewhat nervous about seeing the Doctor, he had kept thinking about the last time he had watched the TARDIS leave with Rose and the Doctor aboard. That had ended up going in a direction he hadn't anticipated, and that had genuinely angered him.

As he approached the Doctor he was preparing a response to finding that the Doctor had left Rose behind -again-. For her own good, of course. He jumped as someone punched his arm lightly and he turned with relief to see Rose grinning at him.

"Well, fancy meeting you here captain Jack." Rose linked her arm with his and joined him in watching as the Doctor argued with the bookseller.

Jack looked down at her, lifting his eyebrows at her choice of attire. "Not sure tweed is really you Rosie. The Doctor might be a bad influence on you."

Rose shook her head and then gestured ahead. "Think we should go rescue him?"

"The salesman or the Doctor?" Jack had already started walking, Rose keeping pace with him easily.

The Doctor dropped the book he had been gesturing over and beamed at them as they approached, his thumbs tucked in his trouser pockets, and looking terribly out of place in his shirtsleeves with about two feet of snow on the ground. "Rose, this is really exciting, they have what they claim is a first edition of…" The Doctor trailed off as the shopkeeper angrily interrupted him and the Doctor turned to argue his point again.

Rose smiled apologetically at the man as she leaned over and caught the Doctor's hand in her own. "Doctor, I am freezing. Let's just go have some tea."

Raising an eyebrow at Rose to let her know he knew he was being managed, the Doctor smiled at her and squeezed her hand. He took the bag she was carrying from her and let her lead him away, back towards the TARDIS. The three of them walked inside and Rose left them to put her bag away.

The Doctor and Jack looked at each other almost awkwardly and the Doctor shuffled to the console, hitting the lever to send them drifting in the vortex.

He had just opened his mouth to speak when there was a knocking noise coming from the doors. Frowning the Doctor looked at the doors in puzzlement for a moment before looking to Jack and seeing his expression mirrored on the American's face.

He stepped slowly towards the door, looking back as Jack asked, "Didn't you just send us drifting in the vortex?"

"I -did-. And now someone is at the door." He got to the door, hearing the knocking again and answering it with a knock of his own. He paused, hearing it again before opening the doors and smiling in bewilderment at the glowing box that drifted inside, bouncing around the console room briefly before coming to rest in his outstretched hand.

"This is fantastic, I have mail!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: A bit of a short chapter, work has been a tad insane. Hoping to get a longer chapter cleaned up and edited for next week.

I wish I owned Doctor Who, but apparently wishes don't accomplish a whole heck of a lot. Sadness.

Thank you Dreamcatcher49, solemnly-up-to-no-good, scifigeekgirl,JollyRoger1, and FogsBlue for the awesome reviews and for the people alerting and following, hope that aside from the shortness, this doesn't disappoint.

**Chapter 2**

Rose came back to the console room to find it in chaos, the Doctor dancing around the controls pushing buttons and flipping switches and levers manically with one hand and clutching a small glowing box in the other as he rambled on fast enough that she couldn't make any sense of what he was saying. Something about the outside of the universe and mail. Interesting combination.

She slipped quietly into the room and came to stand by Jack where he was leaning on the railing and watching the Doctor with a mix of amusement and confusion on his face. She had opened her mouth to ask what was going on when the Doctor noticed her standing there and dropped the box on the controls, bounding over to her and grasping her shoulders to kiss her soundly.

He pulled back, his face split into a grin as he said, "The most amazing thing Rose, I am not alone!" He released her shoulders, causing her to stumble slightly as she was left bereft of his support. She watched him practically skip back over to pick up the box and wave it about in front of her face.

"This is an emergency message. From a TIME LORD Rose." He then turned the box back around to gaze down at it gleefully, "In an emergency, we wrap our thoughts up in this psychic container and send it out… Any way, there is a Time Lord out there Rose. And it's one of the good ones. See this?"

He held out the box about an inch from her nose and she reached out to grab his wrist and move it back a bit. "You mean this snake thing 'ere?"

"Yes! Mark of the Corsair. He had that tattoo in each of his regenerations. Said he didn't feel like him without it… Well, herself a couple of times…" He trailed off with that, shooting Rose a slightly sheepish look that had Jack smothering a laugh as Rose opened her mouth to speak.

The Doctor quickly recovered and quite adeptly steamrolled over her attempt to speak, causing Jack to rethink his stance on the Doctor's social acuity.

He had moved back to the console and flipped a final switch causing the room to shudder and shake ominously and the lights to and Jack hang on tight to the railing as Jack yelled, "Doctor where are we going?"

"Outside the universe!"

"But Doctor, we can't! You know what happens if we break through the walls!" Rose was speaking now, yelling to be heard over the racket. "And that's even assuming we have enough power. It takes an absolutely enormous amount of power. How are you going to do that?"

"With enormous difficulty, Rose Tyler! Burning up some TARDIS rooms to give us enough power. No more swimming pool, so long scullery. Hope you aren't partial to squash Rose," He twirled a dial and then put his hands back on the main control, "Because there goes squash court seven."

He looked up at Jack and Rose with a manic grin on his face and flipped the final switch, hanging on for dear life as the TARDIS jerked to a stop.

The Doctor was looking back down at the controls, checking the readouts and Jack was stepping towards him, "So where are we Doc?"

Not bothering to correct Jack on his name the Doctor looked up, still smiling excitedly, "Outside the universe where we have never, ever been."

The lights suddenly dimmed, going off and throwing the room into darkness. The Doctor and Jack heard a thud and Jack was holding out a hand as he tried to approach the console. "And was that supposed to happen?"

Dim lights came back on and Jack let his eyes adjust as he saw the Doctor frowning at the controls, "No. This can't be happening. It's impossible…"

"What, what's impossible?" Jack came closer and looked down over the Doctor's shoulder, even knowing he wouldn't understand anything he saw.

The Doctor tried flipping a couple of switches and his frown intensified. "The power, it's completely drained. It's like the matrix, the soul of the TARDIS is gone… But where would it go?" He looked up suddenly and his head swiveled as he searched the room, his gaze coming to rest on the crumpled form of Rose in the corner.

He crossed the room quickly, kneeling beside her and putting a hesitant hand on her shoulder.

Jack had followed and was watching with concern as the Doctor carefully rolled her onto her back. "Is she ok?"

The Doctor was holding a hand to the side of her face, and shook his head, "I don't know. I don't know what's wrong." He let out an audible sigh of relief as Rose's eyelids fluttered briefly for a moment before she opened her eyes.

She swallowed thickly and sat up slowly, smiling at the Doctor as he helped her. "What happened? Why do I feel so… It's gone." She looked panicked and raised her eyes to the Doctor's, "Doctor, it's like I'm empty, my head… The music is gone."

He was looking at her seriously, and he seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking, "Rose, the TARDIS seems to have gone… dark. I need to go investigate, I really think it would be best if you waited here." He held up a hand as her expression turned mutinous and she opened her mouth to speak. "No, please don't argue with me Rose. We don't really know the exact details of your connection with the TARDIS, and I don't want to take any chances with you. The Corsair might be able to help me figure out what's wrong, but until then I would like for you to just wait here awhile. Please Rose."

Rose looked at his concerned face and sighed, she took his hand in hers and looked down at their linked fingers for a moment before nodding her agreement. "All right Doctor. Just promise me you'll be careful though, this really feels wrong. And take Jack at least."

"Like he could get away without me Rosie. He's right though, you should stay here." Jack stepped back as the Doctor stood, helping a still unsteady Rose to the jumpseat and settling her there.

The two men turned then and headed for the TARDIS doors, the Doctor looking back at Rose once before leaving, his face still creased with concern.

Rose patted the railing by her seat, trying to comfort the empty machine. "They'll be back. Don't worry." She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, her face leaning on her knees as she settled in to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- So, I know it has been forever since I updated, if I have any readers left, I sincerely apologize. I could list several valid reasons for the delay, but honestly, it can be summed up in five words. Star Wars the Old Republic. I have an addiction. It's bad. Updates should be more regular for awhile now, at least until Mass Effect 3 comes out in March. **

**Hope this nice long chapter makes up for my laziness a bit, and I also hope it doesn't read too much like a transcript of the episode. **

**As usual, I own nothing.**

**Chapter 3**

Jack looked at the Doctor with concern as he followed him from the TARDIS. They seemed to be in some sort of junk yard, he looked around and frowned as he saw the random collection of junk that seemed to be piled everywhere. He looked at the Doctor again and asked, "So, what kind of trouble is your friend in?"

The Doctor was walking slowly, taking in his surroundings and reaching for his sonic screwdriver to take some readings of the place they found themselves in. "Well. He was in a bind. Bit of a pickle. Rather distressed really." He trailed off and frowned slightly at the readings he was getting.

Jack rolled his eyes, "It's adorable how you can't just say you don't know." He grinned as the Doctor made a face at him. "So what's this place? The junkyard at the end of the universe?"

"Not -end of-, outside of." He knelt down and picked up a handful of dirt, looking up as he continued speaking. "Incredible amount of rift energy. Should refuel just by being here." He tossed the dirt in the air and watched as it drifted to the ground. "Near earth gravity, breathable atmosphere… smells like…" He sniffed and made a face, opening his mouth to keep speaking before he was interrupted by Jack.

"Armpits. Smells like armpits." Jack stood with his hands in his pockets, surveying the area. He stood straighter as he saw a small group of people approaching. "Doctor…"

"I see them." The Doctor came to stand next to Jack and watched the motley assortment of people as they came towards them, his eyes widening in alarm as the younger woman seemed to be screeching at him.

"Thief! Thief! You're my thief!" The woman had her arm extended as she barreled towards them, the two people with her following at a slower pace.

The older woman held her arms out in a warding gesture, "She's dangerous, guard yourselves!"

The younger woman launched herself at the Doctor, "Look at you! Good bye! No, not good bye… what's the other one?" She had attached herself to the Doctor and was attempting to kiss him as he awkwardly tried to extricate himself from her arms, blushing deeply.

The older man and woman got to her and were pulling her from the Doctor, the man speaking in an oddly dead pan voice. "Watch out. Careful, keep back from her." Having successfully freed the Doctor from the woman's grasp the man smiled almost painfully and continued in his strange lilting voice. "Welcome strangers, lovely. Sorry about the mad person."

The woman had wandered slightly from them and seemed to be looking around with as much interest as the Doctor and Jack had been showing in their surroundings. The Doctor looked from one to the other of them in some confusion and straightening his bow tie asked with some exasperation and no small amount of confusion, "Why am I a thief? What have I stolen?"

The woman dropped the odd bit of metal she had picked up and took a step nearer to him, causing the Doctor to take a quick step back in alarm. She tilted her head to the side and answered him in a rapid high pitched voice, "Me. You're going to steal me. No, you have stolen me. Are stealing me? Tenses -are- difficult aren't they?"

The older woman sidestepped around the crazy person and held out a hand to the Doctor, shaking his briskly. "Oh, we are sorry my dove. She's off her head. They call me Auntie."

She stepped back and the old man approached and gestured widely. "I'm Uncle. I'm everyone's uncle. Just keep back from this one." He pointed at the mad woman and continued, "She bites."

The crazy woman looked at him sharply then smiled. "Do I? Excellent!" With that she acted so quickly that before anyone could stop her, she had attached herself to the Doctor again and was biting his neck.

Jack joined the two strange old people in dragging the woman off of the Doctor as he howled in indignant pain. Jack stood with his hand firmly on the woman's arm. She looked up at Jack and smiled. "Hello."

Jack grinned back at her and answered, "Hi there. I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, still rubbing his neck. "Seriously Jack? Now?"

The woman looked back at the Doctor and espoused, "Oh, but biting is excellent! It's like kissing, only there's a winner."

Uncle shook his head and took a breath before saying woefully, "Sorry. She's doolally."

Almost indignantly the woman responded to that, "No I am not doolally. I'm… I'm… it's on the tip of my tongue…" She looked distressed and then she looked up at Jack's face again and her eyes lit up. "Ooh, I've just had another idea about kissing! Come here you!" She advanced on Jack quickly, he was laughing as he held her back.

Auntie came forward and tried to help him, "No Idris! No!."

Idris stopped suddenly and looked back at the Doctor, taking a step towards him and saying rapidly and worriedly, "Oh, but now you're any. No. You will be angry. The little boxes, they will make you angry."

The Doctor stopped trying to escape and looked at her sharply. "Sorry, the little what? Boxes?"

He actually took a step towards her, stopping when she suddenly laughed out loud, "Your chin is hilarious! How does she stand it?" She dropped the hand that was reaching for his face and looked around blankly. "But where is she?" Distracted again she turned to Jack and said, "It means the smell of dust after the rain."

Jack looked from her to the Doctor, "Sorry, what?"

"Petrichor." She said, looking at him like he was daft.

"But, I didn't ask."

"Not yet, but you will."

Auntie looked between them worriedly and then stepped forward, "No Idris, I think you should have a rest."

Idris looked at her and smiled, "Yes, yes. Good idea! I'll just see if there's an off switch." She fell over unconscious, Jack's quick reflexes all that kept her from hitting the ground hard.

Uncle stepped forward, "Is that it? She's dead now. So sad."

Jack looked up from where he was laying her gently on the ground, his face incredulous. "Dead? She's breathing."

The old man nodded and looked up past the Doctor. "Nephew, take Idris somewhere she cannot bite people."

The Doctor spun around to see where he was looking and was startled to see an Ood standing there. He looked at the questioning look on Jack's face and smiled, "It's ok. It's an Ood. Oods are great. Love an Ood." He approached the alien still smiling widely. He tilted his head to the side at the Oods continued silence and gestured to the Ood sphere. "Can't you talk? Is it damaged? May I?" He had reached for the spree and opened it without waiting for a response. Fiddling with the insides. "It might be on the wrong frequency."

Auntie stepped forward and said almost nervously, "Nephew was broken when he came here. Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."

The Doctor finished with the translator and let go of it, stepping back as it lit up and started transmitting. There was some kind of interference, many voices cycled through before one became the most prominent. "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Help! I'm still alive! I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet." The Ood reached up and flipped the sphere off, leaving a vacuum of silence that was finally broken by Jack, who was looking at the Doctor in some concern.

"What was that? Was that him?" He looked at the Doctor closely, trying to decipher the look on his face and not succeeding. The Doctor seemed to be in full guarded mode, his face a mask of tranquility.

"No. No, it's picking up something else. That's not possible. Who else is here?" His face looked more serious as he looked at Auntie and Uncle, "Show me. Show me!"

Auntie shook her head and stepped closer to him, "Just what you see. It's the four of us. And the House." She looked at the Ood and gestured to the unconscious woman. "Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe, where she can't hurt nobody?"

They all watched as he picked up Idris and walked away with her. Auntie turned then to look at the Doctor expectantly. He looked back at her silently for a moment and then asked, almost like he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. "The House? What's the House?"

Auntie smiled and rocked back on her heels a bit, "House is all around you my sweets. You are standing on him!" Her smile widened as Uncle jumped up and down a bit to demonstrate. She continued, "This is the House. This world." Her voice lowered slightly, "Would you like to meet him?"

Jack opened his mouth to ask more questions but was stopped when the Doctor spoke, "We would love to."

The two strange old people smiled at him widely and turned starting to walk away, Uncle stopping to say, "This way. Come, please. Come."

Jack watched them walk away and looked at the Doctor questioningly, "What's wrong Doctor? What were all of those voices?"

The Doctor looked serious and answered, "Time Lords. Not just the Corsair. Somewhere around here there are lots and lots of… Time Lords." He briskly followed after Auntie and Uncle, leaving Jack to follow in his wake.

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><p>They followed the old couple into a large room where the smell seemed to be even more intense than it was outside. Jack made a face and tried to breathe through his mouth. He watched as the Doctor approached a large grate on the wall that the woman was gesturing to.<p>

Auntie smiled vacantly as she looked between the two of them. "Come on then, Come, come, come. You can see the House and he can look at you."

The Doctor leaned to the grate and said in a contemplative voice. "Oh I see. This asteroid is sentient."

Jack sidled closer to the Doctor as Auntie went on about how they stood on House's back, ate his food, breathed his air… Jack thought that the air was a bit much, could do with less armpit smell. He was interrupted from his musings as Auntie and Uncle both stiffened and started talking in unison, their voices no longer their own. "You are most welcome travelers."

"Doctor, that voice, that's the asteroid talking?" Jack asked. He knew the question was stupidly obvious, but somehow couldn't help himself.

The Doctor ignored him and answered the asteroid, "So you're like… a sea urchin. Hard outer surface, that's the planet we're standing on. Big, squashy, oogly thing inside. That's you." He had stepped closer to Auntie and Uncle and was looking at them thoughtfully.

House answered, "That is correct Time Lord."

Stepping back and directing his gaze from one corner of the room to the other, the Doctor spoke again. "Ah, so you've met Time Lords before?"

"Many travelers have come through the rift. Like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."

The Doctor had stopped and crossed his arms, "So there are Time Lords here then?"

"Not any more. But there have been many TARDIS's on my back in days gone by."

The Doctor dropped his arms back to his sides and said abruptly. "Not after us there won't be. Last Time Lord. Last TARDIS."

"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety Doctor, rest. Feed if you will." Auntie and Uncle both seemed to sag a little after that, regaining control of themselves.

Jack looked from them to the Doctor, still trying to gauge the Doctor's mood. "We aren't actually going to stay here Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at Jack carefully before answering, "It seems like a friendly planet. Literally." He looked to Auntie and Uncle, "Mind if we poke around a bit?"

Auntie smiled her creepy smile and stepped towards them lifting her arms and cupping the Doctor's face, "You can look all you want. Go, look. House loves you."

The Doctor looked at her hands as she dropped them back to her sides. "Right then. Come on Jack." He left the room and Jack followed him closely, unable to shake the feeling that things were really not right here, and that the Doctor was being his usual closed mouthed self about it.

* * *

><p>As the Doctor and Jack walked down the hallway, they could hear the crazy woman calling for her thief, adding to the creepy surreal quality that seemed to be permeating the situation. Jack looked at the Doctor and asked, "So, once the TARDIS is fueled we are outta here. Right?"<p>

"No. There are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me." He pushed on without looking back at Jack.

Jack sighed and put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, drawing him back to a stop and trying to ignore the calls of Idris as they carried through the corridor. "Doctor, I know about your people, and I know what you had to do."

"Yes, but if they are like the Corsair they are good, and I can save them."

"And then tell them you destroyed the others?"

The Doctor frowned, "I can explain, tell them why I had to."

Jack looked at him closely. "You want to be forgiven."

"Don't we all?"

Sighing heavily, Jack nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to go check on Rose. I'm worried about leaving her alone this long, and then if you can, bring her back with you."

Jack looked the Doctor in the eye trying to ascertain whether or not the Doctor was just trying to get rid of him. "All right. But be careful. Rose'll kill me if something happens to you. And she's the one person in this universe who I think might actually manage it."

"Aye, aye captain." The Doctor saluted sarcastically and Jack rolled his eyes in answer before walking off to head back to the TARDIS. The Doctor turned from him and continued on down the hall, his sonic screwdriver in his hand.

* * *

><p>Rose looked up from her spot on the jumpseat as Jack entered the TARDIS and frowned when she realized the Doctor wasn't behind him. "Aren't you supposed to be with the Doctor? Keeping him out of trouble?"<p>

"He is a Time Lord Rosie, he doesn't need a baby sitter."

Scoffing, Rose stood, "That's just what they're called. It doesn't mean he knows what he's doing."

Jack smiled at that and nodded in agreement. "I'm just here to see if you feel up to coming out and…" He stopped and frowned as the doors of the TARDIS locked behind him with an audible click. "Well. Damn him."

Rose came up behind him and tried the door, knowing it would be futile. "I really hate when he does this." She sighed and leaned her head against the door for a moment before turning to Jack and asking, "Ok, what the hell is going on?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor walked down the twisting corridors, scanning with his screwdriver and peeking into the rooms he passed. He entered one and frowned at the readings he got. "Come on! Where are you? Now where are you all? Where are you?" He looked around the room and then closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind and trying to sense the other Time Lords. He opened his eyes and with a disbelieving look on his face pushed back a curtain, revealing a small closet.<p>

"Well, they can't all be in here." He turned from the closet and listened with his mind again, the murmuring growing louder as he approached a cabinet that was set into the a sinking feeling he reached out and opened the doors, the voices deafening as he stood there looking at row after row of little glowing boxes. He felt Auntie and Uncle come into the room behind him and spoke without turning. "Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection. Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here... but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead." He turned then to face them, his expression one that would have sent fear into the heart of anyone who knew him, the Oncoming Storm. "How many Time Lords have you lured here, the way you lured me? And what happened to them all?"

Auntie pursed her lips slightly before speaking in her whispery vacant voice, "House, House is kind and he is wise."

The Doctor scowled at her angrily, "House repairs you when you break. Yes, I know. But how does he mend you?" He pulled out his sonic and scanned Uncle, looking at him with some disbelief. "You have the eyes of a 20 year old."

Uncle smiled slightly, looking nervous, "Thank you."

The Doctor shook his head, "No, I mean it literally. Your eyes are 30 years younger than you are." The Doctor reached out and ripped off Uncle's top hat, "Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than your left, and how's your dancing? Because you've got two left feet. Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you." He put the sonic away and looked down at Auntie's hand. "I had an umbrella like you once."

Auntie smiled again, and patted the hand he was looking at, the hand obviously not that of a woman. "Oh, now, it's been a great arm for me, this."

The Doctor looked at the arm blankly, his eyes on a tattoo that had become visible when her sleeve had shifted. "Corsair."

She smiled and nodded. "He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle? Big fella. I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys."

"Kidneys." The Doctor stared at them in numb disbelief for a moment before speaking again. "You gave me hope, and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me!" He took a threatening step towards them, "Basically… run!"

Taking him at his word, Auntie ran off, Uncle stepping quickly to follow her, but pausing to say, "Poor old Time Lord. Too late. House is too clever." He took off then, leaving the room at a fast shuffle.

The Doctor stood staring at the now vacant doorway and almost jumped as his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and frowned at the TARDIS number in the caller ID. He opened it, "Rose?"

An irate female voice answered him. "Yes. Rose. Did you honestly mean to lock us inside here? I'm really hoping it was an accident, because you -know- how I hate it when you do this to me!"

"Lock the doors?" The Doctor was genuinely confused and frowned into the phone. "Jack is with you? And the doors locked?" He listened to the silence on the other end and then he went on, suddenly having a new thought. "'The boxes will make you angry.' She said. How could she know?"

The Doctor could almost feel Rose's confusion as she asked, "Doctor, what are you talking about?"

"Stay put, Rose. Both of you stay exactly where you are." The Doctor hung up his phone on her answer and started quickly in the direction of the crazy woman's calls.

Back in the TARDIS Rose glared at the dead phone for a moment before saying, "Well, we don't have much... choice now, do we."

* * *

><p>The Doctor entered the room and walked up to the cell they had put Idris in, somewhat surprised that they would actually imprison her that way. He rested his hands on the bars and looked in at her, "How did you know about the boxes? You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?"<p>

Idris smiled at him and leaned her face forward, coming to a stop with it pressed between two of the bars, "Ah, it's my thief."

"Who are you?" The Doctor frowned at the woman, genuinely flummoxed.

"It's about time you asked that question." She tilted her head to the side with a slight frown. "Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?"

"They said you were dangerous." He looked at the cage as he spoke, leaning back and then looking back at her as she made a rude noise.

"Not the cage, stupid. In here!" Idris put her hands on her face and patted it, "They put me in here. I'm the... Oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go…" She opened her mouth and the Doctor felt the bottom drop out from his stomach as she made the noise of the TARDIS in flight.

He leaned back in and looked at her in disbelief, "The TARDIS?"

"Time and relative dimension in space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me! I'm the TARDIS." She grinned at him and dropped her hands from her face to grasp the bars of her cage.

"No. You're not! You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box." He spoke indignantly, the absurdity of the situation getting to him.

Nodding emphatically she grinned again, "Yes, that's me. A type 40 TARDIS. I was already a museum piece, when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said…"

His voice a little gruff the Doctor finished her statement. "I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known."

"And then you stole me. And I stole you." She smiled at him, the mad grin taking on more of a wistful tone in remembrance.

The Doctor shook his head, "No, I borrowed you."

"Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"

"You're the TARDIS?" The Doctor walked back to the cage, putting his hands on the bars and looking at her as she answered.

"Yes."

He grinned, "My TARDIS?"

Matching his grin with one of her own she exclaimed, "My Doctor. Oh! We have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock."

The Doctor used his screwdriver on the lock and stepped back as she left the cage. She looked up at him and asked with her head tilted to the side, "Are all people like this?"

"Like what?"

"So much bigger on the inside? I'm... Oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad." She paced a bit, wringing her hands and looking distressed.

Feeling the need to bring her back on topic, the Doctor interrupted her ramblings, "But why? Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?"

She wandered over and leaned into him, sniffing him. "It doesn't want me."

The Doctor frowned as she sniffed him, "How do you know?"

"House eats TARDIS's." She sniffed his jacket, moving around him slowly.

"House what? What do you mean?" He stepped away and looked at her face, trying to get her to focus. He wondered briefly if this is what talking to him was like.

Idris shrugged, "I don't know. It's something I heard you say."

"But I never said that. When did I say that?"

"In the future."

"House eats TARDIS's?" He frowned at her.

"There you go." She leaned forward and put a finger on his lips. "What are fish fingers?"

His voice muffled the Doctor asked around her finger, "When do I say that?"

"Any second now." She smiled as he suddenly straightened.

"Of course! House feeds on rift energy and TARDIS's are bursting with it. And not raw. All lovely and cooked, processed food… Mmm, fish fingers."

"Do fish have fingers?" Idris asked, genuinely curious now.

"But you can't eat a TARDIS, it would destroy you. Unless, unless…" He paced away from her as he thought.

Taking pity on him, Idris answered for him, "Unless you deleted the TARDIS matrix first."

A mirthless chuckle crossed his lips and he said, "So it deleted you."

"But House just can't delete a TARDIS' consciousness, that would blow a hole in the universe. He pulls out the matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and feeds off the remaining Artron energy." She paused slightly, "You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."

The Doctor stood for a moment, looking like he had been punched in the kidney, "God… Rose. Rose is in the TARDIS." He pulled out his phone, dialing the TARDIS and cursing as she didn't answer. "And she said the doors locked." He ran down the hall, leaving Idris behind in his panic.

Idris called after him, trying to reassure him, "My human is clever Doctor, just like you."

* * *

><p>He reached the TARDIS and the Doctor skidded to a stop, slamming himself against the doors trying to get them open. "Open damnit!" He stood back and snapped his fingers, growing more frantic as nothing happened.<p>

He heard Rose then, through the doors. "Doctor? Is that you?"

He tried the doors again, then kicked the wooden box in frustration. "I can't get the doors opened Rose."

There was a pause then she asked, "You really didn't lock them?"

The Doctor frowned and shook his head, rather useless since she couldn't see him. "Rose, I promised not to do that to you again. I swear I didn't. It's House. He eats TARDIS's. I have got to get you out of there."

He heard her try the door again from the other side, then a pause. "It's no use Doctor. It won't open."

He heard the unmistakable noise of the TARDIS starting to take off and shouted over it, "I swear I will get you out of there Rose! Just hold on!"

He stood there looking at the spot the TARDIS had occupied a moment ago and then turned to Idris, "I have no idea what… OK. Right. I don't... I really don't know what to do." He shook his head, "That's a new feeling."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N- Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to solemnly-up-to-no-good, JollyRoger1, FogsBlue, kate, ValaEnVash and romanticangel92 for taking the time to review. **

**Also, I don't own these characters and settings, I'm just playing with them.**

Chapter 4

Rose stared at the console in disbelief. They had taken off. She stepped away from the doors and approached the controls, looking down at them and knowing that attempting to stop things would be useless. She felt Jack come up behind her and rest a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, whatever happens at least we're together. And we're in the TARDIS, so we're safe." She shook her head and turned to answer him, opening her mouth but not speaking because there was suddenly a voice coming from somewhere around them.

"You're half right. I mean, you are in the TARDIS. What a great adventure. I should have done this half a million years ago. So, Jack… and Rose was it? Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor slapped himself on the cheek to clear his head, and turned from where the TARDIS had been moments ago. He ran back into the building and looked around frantically, eventually coming to a stop when he found Auntie and Uncle, sitting quietly in a room. Idris came in behind him and took a seat as well, dust puffing up around her from the cushion she landed on. Stepping into the room he looked at her and said, "It's gone!"<p>

Idris looked at him and frowned, " It wasn't eaten?"

He shook his head, "No, it left. Not eaten, hi-jacked. But why?" He shook his head again and was about to ask another question when Auntie distracted him.

She levered herself to her feet and shuffled across the room, "It's time for us both to go, and keep together."

The Doctor held up his hands and followed her, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Go? What do you mean go? Where are you going? There's a way out of here?"

Auntie shook her head and looked at him like he was daft. "Well, we're dying, my love. It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."

Uncle looked at the Doctor, "For the record, I'm against it."

"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets?" Auntie asked, looking at the Doctor with slight accusation in her gaze. "Cause you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?"

Nodding, Uncle continued her line of thought, "So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDIS's."

The Doctor frowned at them, "It won't find any."

Auntie smiled vacantly at him and sat down again heavily, "Oh, it will think of something." With that she groaned and fell over sideways, the Doctor rushed to her side and reached to check her pulse. He stood and looked down at her solemnly.

Uncle looked on impassively and then declared, "Actually, I feel fine." He started to step away and then crumpled to the ground.

"Not dead! You can't just die!" The Doctor looked from one to the other of them, his panic increasing.

The Doctor was shaken from his reverie when his TARDIS grabbed his arm, "We need to go to where I landed, Doctor. Quickly!"

He looked at her blankly, "Why?"

"Because we are there in three minutes. We need to go now!" She started to lead him away at a run, but stopped suddenly, grasping her side as she gasped in pain."Ow! Roughly, how long do these bodies last?"

The Doctor took out his screwdriver and scanned her, looking at her in horror, "You're dying."

The TARDIS rolled her eyes, "Yes, of course I'm dying." She snatched the screwdriver from him, "I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time." She wrapped him on the head with the screwdriver when he started to speak, "No, stop it, don't get emotional. My human and the pretty one need you. You're the Doctor. Now, focus." Finishing her speech she held out the screwdriver for him.

The Doctor grabbed the sonic from her, glaring slightly, "Focus? Focus on what? How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box!" He flapped his arms indignantly and turned from her to kick the door jamb in frustration. "I'm stuck at the junkyard at the end of the universe on a stupid dead asteroid!" He kicked the wall again, then stopped suddenly. "Oh."

"Oh? Oh, what?" The TARDIS watched him, waiting with every confidence for him to come up with something.

"No, I'm not." He was standing very still, facing the wall and turned back towards her when she spoke again.

She looked at him curiously, "You're not what?"

"It's not a junkyard! Don't you see? It's not a junkyard." He stepped up to her excitedly and took her hand.

"What is it then?" She looked at him, honestly not following his train of thought, even though she thought she should be.

The Doctor grinned at her and squeezed her hand tightly, "It's a TARDIS junkyard!" Tugging her after him, he started for the exit, stopping suddenly. "Ooh, sorry, do you have a name?"

The TARDIS smiled gently at him. "700 years, finally he asks."

"But what do I call you?"

"I think you call me... Sexy." She nodded at the end of the statement, yes, that was what he called her.

The Doctor blushed deeply and whispered as he leaned forward, "Only when we're alone!"

Sexy looked around and then whispered back to him, "We are alone."

"Well," The Doctor smiled, "Come on then, Sexy." And he led her from the room at a run.

* * *

><p>Rose and Jack moved closer together and back against the console as the voice continued speaking, Rose looked at Jack and mouthed, "What the bloody hell is that?"<p>

Jack looked at her and shook his head, "I think it's the asteroid."

Rose nodded and said, "Right. The asteroid is flying the TARDIS and is talking to us."

House continued to speak, interrupting their dialogue, "Corridors. I have corridors. So much to learn about my new home. But you haven't answered my question, children."

Rose looked up in the general direction of the ceiling, "Er, your question?"

The voice sounded almost chastising as it answered her, "You remember. Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you both now?"

"Well… because... Jack, why? Why shouldn't he kill us?" Rose felt incredibly out of her depth, still reeling from the absence of the TARDIS's comforting presence in her mind. It had been over a century since she had felt that emptiness, and it was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling.

Jack looked at Rose in concern and then got back to answering the House, "Because… killing us quickly wouldn't be any fun. And you need fun, don't you? That's what Uncle and Auntie were for, wasn't it? Someone to make suffer. You need to be entertained... and killing us quickly wouldn't be all that entertaining."

There was a moment of silence as House seemed to consider this. Then the voice spoke again. "So entertain me. Run."

Rose and Jack ran together through the doors leading from the console room, taking off blindly down the corridor.

* * *

><p>The Doctor ran quickly back to the junkyard and came to a stop at the top of a rise, looking up from his scans to survey the scene before him. He looked over as Sexy came up beside him and gestured to the valley before them, "A valley of half-eaten TARDIS's. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"<p>

She looked solemnly out at the wreckage, "I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead. That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."

"Ah…" The Doctor looked at her in concern, "Sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that."

"No." She smiled at him gently, "You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models. And you don't care that it's impossible."

"It's not impossible as long as we're alive. Rose and Jack need me. So, yeah, we're gonna build a TARDIS." With that he led the way down into the graveyard of broken TARDIS's.

* * *

><p>Jack led the way down a corridor, the voice following them. "So, are we having fun yet? You were right, I'm rather enjoying the sensation of having you running around inside me."<p>

With a strangled yelp, Jack almost flew right down into a corridor that seemed to be facing the wrong direction. Only Rose pulling back on him at the exact moment he needed her had kept him from a messy, although likely not permanent death.

The voice mocked them smugly, "I have turned off the corridor anti-ground, so do be careful."

Rose squeezed his hand and murmured, "Come on." She led him around the lip of the corridor, taking them to the other side and they continued running, still without an actual destination in mind. Rose thought back to the Doctor yelling that he would come for her, and wondering if that was likely. This could really be the end she thought. And she had been wasting time again, as they ran blindly through the corridors, she thought about how stupid she was sometimes, not to seize happiness when it was right in front of her.

* * *

><p>Sexy watched as the Doctor fiddled with the console they had partially stuck together, basically using a combination of spit and will power. She reached out and laid a finger on one of the components and said, "Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter."<p>

The Doctor popped his head up over the edge of the console and made a face at her, "Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing." He turned to lug another large piece over and grunted as he set it upright and tried to attach it to the walls with a length of old rope.

"You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom." Sexy went over to him and held the piece in place for him while he cursed at the knot he was trying to tie. " And you never read the instructions."

Finishing ,the Doctor brushed his hands off and turned back to the console, looking at it for a moment before replying. "I always read the instructions!" He reached out and glanced at her before trying to surreptitiously take the advice she had given him on the tubing. Thankfully she was distracted by a bit of a female temper tantrum he thought.

"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for 700 years. What does it say?" Sexy came to stand right in front of him with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

Shaking his head the Doctor refused to look at her, "That's not instructions!"

Sexy raised an eyebrow and forced her face into his line of vision, "There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?"

The Doctor sighed and hung his head briefly, he knew when he was defeated. "Pull to open."

Sensing triumph and nodding quickly, "Yes, and what do you do?"

"I push!" The Doctor stood up abruptly and stocked over to another bit he thought would do for the wall.

Sexy followed him and continued emphatically. "Every single time. 700 years. Police Box doors open out the way."

Throwing the piece back down the Doctor stomped towards her, "I think I've earned the right to open my front doors any way I want!"

"Your front doors? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"

Muttering to himself the Doctor picked the metal back up and dragged it over to the console. That done he turned back to her, "You are not my mother!"

Sexy tilted her head to the side and looked at him strangely, "And you are not my child!"

The Doctor took a couple of bounding steps towards her, suddenly fixated on something else he wanted to say to her, "You know, since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, you," He pointed at her, his finger stopping an inch from her nose, "have never been very reliable."

Laughing and shoving his hand down, Sexy replied, "Oh, and you have?"

"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go." He let his hand fall down and went back to the console, he really thought he almost had it. He looked at the machinery and desperately hoped it was enough.

Coming to stand beside him, and sensing something of his thoughts, Sexy reached out and laid a gentle hand on his arm, saying softly, "No, but I always took you where you needed to go."

The Doctor smiled at her and turned to face her, clasping her hand in his own, "You did!" He swung their hands briefly, "Look at us. Talking. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk? Even when you're inside the box?"

Sexy smiled back at him and shook her head, "You know I'm not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time." She fluttered a hand in his direction, "And you talk and run around and bring home strays." She took a breath to continue, but then clutched her side and gasped as she started to fall over.

The Doctor caught her, his face creased with worry, "You ok?"

"One of the kidneys has already failed." She shook her head and straightened, "It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console."

"Using a console without a proper shell." The Doctor sighed heavily, "It's not going to be safe."

Sexy tilted her head to the side and looked at him frankly, "This body has about 18 minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Two of the people who matter most to you in the universe are in danger. Safe is relative."

The Doctor nodded and smiled, "Then we need to get a move on, eh, old girl?"

* * *

><p>Rose and Jack rounded a corner and she beat him through a set of doors, stopping abruptly when they slid shut between them. She turned to the door and spent a moment beating against it before giving up the effort as futile. She was breathing heavily and winced at the evidence that she had let herself fall a bit out of shape. Her month of chips and daytime television had apparently take their toll. And she was definitely going to have to stop letting the Doctor influence her eating habits. She jumped at a sudden noise to her left and decided that this was probably not the time to be contemplating her current level of fitness.<p>

Carefully moving down the hall, Rose stopped as she saw something impossible. Her hand moved to her mouth and she let out a small sound that could easily have been mistaken for a sob.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was standing back surveying his work, they had three walls and a console, and it still seemed so inadequate. He closed his eyes briefly, calculating the amount of time that had passed and wondering what was happening to Rose and Jack. He hoped he wasn't going to be too late. He looked over to where his TARDIS was inspecting another component and worried for her as well. This could all go so wrong, and had started out with so much hope.<p>

Interrupting his musings, Sexy spoke, "You'll need to install the time router."

Nodding the Doctor picked up the piece in question and approached the console, "How is this going to make it through the rift?" He slid the column into place and then stepped back again. "We're almost there." He ticked items off on his fingers as he looked, "Thrust diffuser. Er, Retro scope. Blue... thingy."

Sexy approached with another piece and attached it carefully, "Do you wonder why I chose you all those years ago?"

The Doctor frowned at her, "I chose you. You were unlocked."

Rolling her eyes, Sexy leaned against the console, "Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe. So I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough."

Smiling at her words the Doctor fiddled with a couple of the switches on the controls, "Right. Perfect. Look at that. What could possibly go wrong?" He frowned as the dial he was twirling came off in his hand. He paused for a beat then tossed it over his shoulder. "That's fine, that always happens."

* * *

><p>Jack slammed his fist against the door and then turned around, he tried to decide where he should go, but he didn't like leaving Rose. He Started to take a step away and then the door slid open. He frowned as he approached it, the corridor beyond was strangely dark as he warily stepped through. He was not that surprised when it slid shut behind him, but he still jumped. He squinted in the darkened hall and kept walking slowly towards a light in the distance. As he approached he could feel the hair standing up on the back of his neck and he knew somehow what the light he was heading for was.<p>

It was Rose.

As he came nearer, he could see her there, hovering a few inches off of the ground. Her eyes were closed and her hair was streaming out around her in a wind that seemed to be generated by her. He held his hand up to shield his eyes and tried to figure out how he had come up on her so quickly. He had felt much farther off just a moment ago. His train of thought was halted as he saw her eyes snap open and look directly at him.

Looking into her gaze, he was reminded of what the Doctor had said, about how the power Rose had absorbed would have turned most beings into some kind of malevolent entity. The eyes he was staring into had none of the humanity that he associated with Rose. None of the force of personality that had brought him from a drifting con man to a person who actually gave a damn, nothing of the woman who had managed to make a dangerous being like the Doctor more human. She was alien. She was eternal. She was the Bad Wolf.

He was afraid.

Bad Wolf lifted an arm slowly, almost like it was floating upwards in zero gravity. When she spoke her voice had that echoey quality that bespoke of time and the lack of time. She tilted her head to the side as her hand finished it's path to point a finger at him. "You are wrong. You should not be." He blinked and when his eyes opened she was right in front of him, her outstretched hand caressing his face. He tried not to shudder at the touch, her hand was a burning cold, unnatural and painful. She spoke again and he closed his eyes and let that voice drift over him. "Everything dies."

And he did. He could feel himself aging rapidly, coming to dust.

* * *

><p>Rose heard a strange keening noise that seemed to be coming from somewhere off to her left, and lifted her head. She was huddled on the ground, her face covered in tears and her eyes closed against the sight of dozens of dead Doctors. There were so many, dead in so many ways. She had seen his Ninth self, the Tenth, and her current Doctor, all of them looking at her accusingly and confirming to her in a million voices that she had killed them. She had killed them all, simply by being who she was. What she was.<p>

She listened to the new noise that was added to that cacophony of voices, and decided that it sounded like it might be Jack. She got to her knees and crawled slowly in his direction, hoping desperately that the hallucinations weren't physically tangible.

The pained noise got more distinct as she got closer to it, and she stopped suddenly when she reached a prone figure on the floor. She peeked out from under her eyelids and confirmed that it was Jack, he looked as bad as she felt, his face red from crying and screwed up in pain and misery. She pulled his head onto her lap and leaned down, trying to get through whatever he was seeing. "Jack? Jack, can you hear me?"

Rose gripped him tighter as he tried to filch away from her and wondered at what he was seeing. "Jack! It isn't real! Wake up!"

She glanced up sharply as the dead Doctors all came closer to her, more insistent at her last words regarding their reality. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying her best to clear her mind. She had been almost content to sit there, just blocking out the noise of them. This was different though, Jack seemed to be in pain, and seemed to be unable to bring himself out of this enough to realize that it wasn't true.

Part of her was worried that as she reached for the power, that it wouldn't be there. That her lost connection to the TARDIS would have robbed her of the part of her that was Bad Wolf. That was silly though, she told herself. The Time Vortex was more than the heart of a single TARDIS. It was all things at once. She released the breath and felt a calm come over her. She reached tentatively towards that place in her mind that the calm seemed to come from, and then pushed that calm outward. There was an almost audible snap as the illusions around her winked out of existence.

Feeling the silence she opened her eyes and looked down to see Jack looking up at her cautiously. She smiled at him and he smiled back, a very weak reflection of his normal cocky grin. He reached up a hand and poked her cheek. "You're really you?"

Rose nodded slowly and he sighed in relief. "Thank god. I can see you there in your eyes." Not explaining that statement he sat up and seemed to take stock of himself for a moment.

Figuring that that was all of the explanation she was going to get, Rose stood slowly and looked around, rubbing her arms like she was chilled. "This House thing, seems to be playing games with us. Guess it took your whole 'entertainment' suggestion seriously."

Jack stood as well and looked at Rose carefully. He was still unnerved, that little show had seemed to personify al of the worries he had had about Bad Wolf, both for his own safety and for the loss of his friend that it had represented. She hadn't been in those eyes at all. Looking at her now, noting the concern in her gaze as she looked at him, he still saw the flecks of gold that seemed to swirl in her brown eyes sometimes. He smiled at her to reassure her, and knew without a doubt that those concerns were unfounded. She was Rose, and that was good enough. He took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly and nodding. "I guess I should have tried a softer sell. That wasn't fun."

They both jumped as the voice of House surrounded them again, "On the contrary, it was both entertaining and educational. What are you my dear? More than human energy floating about in that little head of yours."

Rose felt Jack reach out and take her hand, squeezing it gently shaking his head. She nodded that she understood that she shouldn't say anything. Being eaten by this thing, whatever that entailed, did not sound like a fun way to go.

"Fine then, don't tell me. It'll be more fun getting it out of you slowly. You should be running children. No time to dawdle.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Thank you so much for reading, and thanks tons to romanticangel92, solemnly-up-to-no-good, JollyRoger1, and FogsBlue for taking the time to let me know what you think. Always awesome to get those alert emails and read your thoughts.

Finally finishing off this episode, and then on to original storyline. I loved this episode so much that I had to try to include it. Hope it finishes in a satisfactory way. :)

And also, I own nothing.

The Doctor finished lashing himself and Sexy to the console with a length of velvet rope he had found and looked over at her briefly, he rolled his eyes at seeing her playing with her face in a mirror. He looked over everything one last time then nodded. "Right. OK, let's go. Follow that TARDIS!"

He waited expectantly and deflated a bit when nothing happened. "It can't hold the charge. I can't even start it. There's no power!" He looked over to Sexy and reached over to cover the mirror with his hand, "Do you hear? I've got nothing!"

Sexy smiled at him and shook her head, "Oh, my beautiful idiot. You have what you've always had - you've got me." She lifted her hand and kissed the tip of her finger. It glowed and a trail of energy followed it in the air as she reached out and touched it to the central column. She smiled wider as it started to pulsate and a familiar noise filled the air as they dematerialized.

The Doctor grinned widely as he looked out the gaping section of missing wall and saw the swirl of time as they chased after the TARDIS. They were jostled enough that he was glad for his foresight in lashing them in. He caught Sexy's eye and his grin widened impossibly, "This is FANTASTIC! All things considered." He gripped the console tighter as it bucked wildly, "Whoo-hoo!"

Smiling indulgently at his excitement, Sexy spoke loudly, "We've locked on to them! They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."

The Doctor leaned towards her, making a face as her hair whipped in the wind and got caught in his mouth. He spat and shook his head before speaking, "Can you get a message to them? The telepathic circuits are online."

Nodding Sexy replied, "It'll have to be the pretty one, my human's mental shields seem to be up."

* * *

><p>Jack suddenly stumbled as he and Rose raced down a corridor, he leaned against the wall, holding his head. "Holy… what is that?"<p>

Rose stopped beside him, her hand on his shoulder as she looked around cautiously. "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head, Jack said, "It's like... I'm getting a message."

He jumped as the crazy lady's face was suddenly in his head, grinning like the cheshire cat, "Hello, Pretty!"

The Doctor's face appeared next to her and was apparently trying to calm Jack as he said, "Don't worry Jack. Telepathic messaging."

The woman rolled her eyes and seemed to shove the Doctor out before continuing, "You have to go to the old control room. I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there, you need to lower the shields." The Doctor started to pop back in, apparently still wanting to talk, but the woman shoved again and he was gone. She continued, "You'll have about 12 seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the passkey when you get there. Good luck!"

Jack opened his eyes and straightened, meeting Rose's worried gaze, "Jack, what was that?"

He shook his head, "It was that crazy lady, and the Doctor."

"The Doctor?" Rose looked like she was going to say more but Jack cut her off, taking her hand and tugging her down the hall.

"Sorry Rosie, we have to keep going."

* * *

><p>The Doctor tried not to be put out that Sexy had kept a handle on his desire to ramble at Jack, probably for the best anyway. He looked at her curiously, "How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway? The House is in the control room."<p>

Sexy looked at him like he was a bit daft, "I directed him to one of the old control rooms."

"There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodeled." The Doctor looked at her in puzzlement, obviously she should know that.

"I archive them. For neatness. I've got about 30 now."

The Doctor shook his head, "But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?"

She nodded in agreement, "So far, yes."

"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet!"

Sexy looked at him with an expression that said he really ought to know better. "YOU can't."

* * *

><p>Rose followed after Jack as they raced through the hall, she wasn't sure where they were going, and she was drawn from her wondering when they turned a corner and were faced with an Ood. It was holding it's translating sphere threateningly and she took a step back, drawing Jack with her. He looked at her in puzzlement, then took a step forward.<p>

Nephew lurched forward, his sphere swinging out and almost hitting Jack. Only Rose yanking him back kept him from the nasty shock that now sparked against the wall.

Jack looked at the sparks and then at the Ood. "What the hell? That's not supposed to be a weapon."

Rose shook her head, "No, it isn't supposed to be." She circled around, and was happy that the Ood seemed more worried about Jack than her. Even aliens could be counted on to worry more about threat from the man. Moving quickly, she waited for it to make another move towards Jack and kicked out, causing the Ood to overbalance and trip into the wall. Jack caught on quickly, moving around the Ood to grab her hand and keep running down the hall.

They could hear the Ood get up and run after them.

* * *

><p>The Doctor rocked back and forth on his heels, smiling like an idiot. It was working! "Keep going! You're doing it, you sexy thing!"<p>

Sexy looked at him and tilted her head slightly, "See, you DO call me that. Is it my name?"

Grinning as he reached out and made a small adjustment to their course, the Doctor yelled, "You bet it's your name! Whoo!"

* * *

><p>Jack skidded to a stop by a door and Rose stopped by him looking at him expectantly, "So where is this place? Where are we?"<p>

"This is where she told me to go." Jack looked worriedly in the direction they had come from, checking on the progress of their pursuer, "She said she'd send me the pass key!" He looked frantic for a moment and then, as though his thoughts had conjured her up, the woman's face was in his head again. He repeated what she told him out loud to Rose, "Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor."

"Petrichor?"

Jack looked at the door expectantly, "Well? What do I do? Do I say it?" He paused, looking down the hall again, "I mean, I already said it the once. Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor." He stared at the door in frustration as nothing happened. "I said it." Still nothing. He hit the door frantically as the Ood could now be seen at the corner they had turned not that long ago. "I said it!"

Rose grabbed his arm and said frantically, " Jack, think! The TARDIS interface is telepathic. You don't say it, you think it."

Jack nodded and looked down the hall, "Of course, what the hell does petrichor mean? That's why she told me. The smell of dust after rain."

Rose looked at him in confusion, and then looked back to where he was staring, the Ood was closer. Rose turned to the door and closed her eyes firmly. " Be quiet, Jack! Crimson. Eleven. Delight. The smell of dust after rain." She felt Jack's rising panic as she thought each word carefully and distinctly.

Crimson. She saw, disturbingly, the way blood looked on snow. Bright red against the pristine white.

Eleven. She saw the face of the Doctor as he was now, with his, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new eleventh self.

Delight. She saw herself in her wedding dress. She was grinning, her tongue caught between her teeth as she smeared cake all over the Doctor's face, her family all around her.

Petrichor. She could almost smell the estate, when she was a kid, after a long dry spell. The rain had fallen on the parched earth and the smell of the park had been clean and fresh.

Jack yelled in relief as the doors opened and grabbed Rose, pulling her inside after him, narrowly missing another swipe from that wicked sphere.

Rose opened her eyes and took in the sight of the control room as it had been when she had lived on the TARDIS before. She stumbled to a stop and only Jacks sharp call of, "Shields." kept her moving. Nodding she followed him to the console, her hand unwaveringly going for the correct set of controls.

"Here!"

The Ood was standing in the room now, on the platform just a few feet away from them. Jack and Rose stood close together, prepared to take off again. They looked up as the voice of House boomed around them again, sounding distinctly annoyed. "How did you find this place? It's not on my internal schematics. I had hoped you two could join Nephew as my servants. But you are nothing but trouble. Nephew... kill them."

Jack was angling himself between Rose and the alien when he got another message, "We're coming through. Get out of the way or you'll be atomized."

Jack made a face and threw out a mental answer, "Where are you coming through?"

The woman made a face, like she was surprised at the question, "I don't know."

Out loud, Jack said with no small amount of sarcasm, "Ok. Great. Thanks!" With that he grabbed Rose, taking her so by surprise that she didn't even struggle as he tossed her into a corner of the room, dropping down on top of her and covering his head.

The makeshift console suddenly materialized in the room, the Doctor and the mad woman yelling loudly. They untied themselves from the controls, and the Doctor stumbled a bit as he rushed over to Jack and Rose. He watched nervously as they untangled themselves from each other and reached to help Rose to her feet, clutching her to his chest for just a moment. Taking just a small second in the midst of this emergency to thank whatever higher power had been watching that she was ok.

He turned back to Sexy as she stepped slowly towards them. "Not good. Not good at all." She stumbled and the Doctor released Rose to help his TARDIS slowly sit down on the grating. She looked up at him and asked, "How do you walk around in these things?"

The Doctor was looking at her solemnly and squeezed her shoulder, "We're not quite there yet... just hold on." He turned to Rose and gestured to Sexy, "Rose, this is... Well, she's the TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's the TARDIS."

Rose looked at the woman on the floor and asked, even though a deep part of her knew it for fact, "She's the TARDIS?"

The Doctor nodded, "And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the TARDIS."

Jack looked between the three of them, and couldn't help himself, "What, did you wish really hard?"

Sputtering the Doctor stood, "Shut up! Not like that."

The TARDIS smiled up at them, "Hello. I'm Sexy."

Rose snorted on a laugh, trying to hold it in when she saw the look on the Doctor's face, Jack was not so considerate as he snickered, "Oh?"

The Doctor did his best to throw a threatening glare at Jack, "Still shut up."

They were all brought back to the seriousness of the situation when House spoke again, "The Environment has been breached. Nephew, kill them all."

They all looked around for the Ood. The Doctor asked, "Where's Nephew?"

Rose pointed at the second console, "He was standing right there, where you materialized."

With a nod the Doctor said in a less then happy voice. "Ah. Well, he must have been redistributed."

Jack looked at him, "Meaning what, exactly?"

"You're breathing him." The Doctor had lost the joking quality they had all had a moment before.

Jack made a face and almost exclaimed in disgust when he saw Rose reach out and brush the tips of her fingers down the Doctor's arm, a solemn look on her face as well. The Doctor smiled sadly at her, "Another Ood I failed to save."

She was kept from replying by House interrupting them, "Doctor, I did not expect you."

"Well, that's me all over, isn't it? Lovely old unexpected me." The Doctor was getting that look on his face, that look that said he meant business, that under his manic actions, and gleeful enjoyment of life was a dangerous man.

House seemed to not get that. He continued, "The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you? I could play with gravity…" There was a pause as they all fell to the ground, except Sexy, who had already been laying on her side. "Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."

They had a moment of choking before the Doctor spoke sharply. "You really don't want to do that!"

The two humans in the room took deep breaths as the air returned and House spoke again, "And, why shouldn't I just kill you now?"

Sexy made a small noise and Rose knelt at her side, holding her hand. The Doctor glanced at them before answering House, "Because then I won't be able to help you! Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble, through the rift, and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in! You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise."

Jack looked at the Doctor incredulously, "You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious. I'm sure it's an entity of its word."

The Doctor looked at Jack with hooded eyes, and started to say something else when Rose said, "Doctor, she's burning up. She's asking for water."

He knelt down next to them and put a hand on Sexy's shoulder. "Hey. Hang in there, old girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon."

Sexy smiled tiredly, "I always liked it when you call me... old girl."

House spoke again, his voice seeming to come from all around them. "You want me to give my word? Easy. I promise."

The Doctor stood and said flippantly, "Fine. OK. I trust you. Just delete, ooh, 30% of the TARDIS rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it through. Activate sub-routine Sigma-9."

There was a pause and then House asked, "Why would you tell me this?"

The Doctor touched his bow tie and addressed the ceiling, "Because we want to get back to our universe as badly as you do." He paused, "Also, I'm nice."

There was a definite triumphant air to the voice as it spoke again, "Ye-e-s. I can delete rooms, and I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor, very helpful. Goodbye, Time Lord. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris."

There was a bright flash of light and then the four of them found themselves in the console room. The Doctor continued like their conversation had not been interrupted by attempted murder, his voice blandly pleasant. "Yes. I mean you could do that, but it just won't work. Hardwired fail-safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift!" He walked towards the console, the voice of House booming in the room around them.

"We are in your Universe now, Doctor. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."

The Doctor paused in his hand movements and then said in a deadly serious voice, "Fear ME. I've killed them all." The Doctor stepped back again and looked up, waving his hand almost dismissively, "But of course, you're right. You've completely won. Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow me and friend Jack to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent." He kicked Jack lightly as he started to clap exaggeratedly, indicating that Jack should join him.

Jack looked at the Doctor like he had finally gone completely whimsical in the brain pan and joined him in clapping, saying, "Yeah. Right. Congratulations!"

The Doctor smiled at him and then addressed House again, "Yep, you've defeated us, me and my lovely friends here. And last, but definitely not least the TARDIS Matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body and look at her!" He gestured at the woman laying on the ground with her head in Rose's lap. His voice had picked up a belligerent angry quality as he spoke.

Rose looked up at the Doctor and Jack, not really following what was happening. She was crying softly, "Doctor, she's stopped breathing."

House had apparently tired of whatever point the Doctor was trying to make as he boomed, "Enough! That is enough."

The Doctor made a scoffing noise and shook his head, his voice rising in pitch as he said angrily, "No. It's never enough. You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS Matrix and live. Look at her body, House."

Almost snidely House asked, "And what? You think I should mourn her?"

"No." The Doctor sidestepped as he neared Rose and Sexy, "I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room." He turned to watch as energy, not unlike regenerative energy flowed from the woman's mouth to fill the control room with golden light. He smiled and kept talking, "You took her from her home. But now she's back in the box again and she's free!"

Rose stood and stepped back as the energy continued to flow through the room, the warmth seeming to sing through her as the familiar presence of the TARDIS returned to the back of her mind, a rush of relief and welcome recognition passing between them.

House sounded alarmed as he yelled, "No! Doctor, stop this! OW! Stop this now!"

The Doctor grinned and shook his head, "Oh, look at my girl, look at her go! Bigger on the inside! You see, House?"

"Make it stop!"

Continuing like House hadn't spoken the Doctor said, "That's your problem. Size of a planet, but inside you're just so small!"

"Make it stop!"

The Doctor looked at the console and said softly, "Finish him off, old girl."

There was an unearthly yell as House was shoved out and the TARDIS took her proper place back, the room thrumming with energy. When all was calm, they looked down and saw that the body was gone. Rose lifted her eyes and met the Doctor's, seeing a sadness there. She looked behind the Doctor suddenly and smiled, causing him to turn around and see a glowing projection of Sexy.

"Doctor? Are you there?" She looked around like she couldn't actually see, and continued, "It's so very dark in here."

The Doctor lifted his hand towards the projection briefly before dropping it and saying softly, "I'm here."

Sexy smiled brilliantly, "I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."

His hands stuffed deep into his pockets the Doctor asked quietly, "What word?"

Her smile seeming to grow impossibly, Sexy spoke, "Alive. I'm alive!"

"Alive isn't sad."

Sexy's smile dimmed slightly, "It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here. But this is when we talked and now even that has come to an end." She smiled wider again, "There's something I didn't get to say to you."

The Doctor tilted his head to the side and guessed, "Goodbye?"

She laughed lightly and shook her head. "No, I just wanted to say... hello. Hello, Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you."

"Please! I don't want you to. Please!" The Doctor had taken a hand out of his pocket and was lifting it towards her when she blinked out of existence. He looked at where it had been and closed his eyes, lifting his head suddenly as her voice said three more words, very faintly.

"I love you."

* * *

><p>A few hours later, the Doctor was sitting on the swing under the console, fiddling with wires and smiling at the fact that the TARDIS hadn't shocked him for his mucking about yet. He looked up as he felt rather than heard Rose settle on the stairs nearby, watching him.<p>

Rose tucked her hair behind her ears as she looked at him, wondering what to say. She settled for, "How's it going under there?"

The Doctor answered over his shoulder, "Just putting a firewall around the Matrix. Almost done."

She nodded and stood, coming down the stairs to stand among the hanging wires, looking around carefully, "Are you going to make her talk again?"

He shook his head and said shortly, "Can't."

Rose looked at him curiously, "Why not?" She tried a smile out on him, "Spacey-wacey is it?"

The Doctor, refusing to be drawn in started to answer seriously, still refusing to look at her. "Well actually, it's because the Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh-dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical then…"

Raising an eyebrow, Rose grabbed two wires at random and stuck them together making them spark. The Doctor looked up frowning and said in a frustrated voice, "Yes, it's spacey-wacey!"

Rose blushed and looked down nervously, "Sorry." She shifted slightly and changed the subject, "Um, the bedrooms got deleted. Jack said he doesn't sleep anyway. So he's hanging out in the kitchen."

The Doctor stood, feeling sorry for his shortness with her and stepped closer, "What did she say? I saw her talking to you, there at the end."

"She just reminded me of something, in case I forgot." Rose smiled at him and he lifted a hand to her face, resting it on her cheek. Rose sighed happily and closed her eyes, leaning into his touch. She opened her eyes and continued, "She is about as cryptic as you can get sometimes."

Dropping his hand back to his side the Doctor looked at her closely, "Are you ok?"

Rose shook her head, "No. I don't know that I am. I watched her die, that was hard. And as for everything else…" She looked up into his face and he got the impression she was searching for something in his eyes. He felt unaccountably relieved when she smiled like she had found it. She continued in a soft voice, "I very nearly lost you again."

"Letting death get to you - you know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts." He smiled gently and echoed her words, "And as for everything else…" He leaned over to make another adjustment to the TARDIS, then stood and faced Rose again. "Bedrooms are back. Had some of them backed up." He leaned in close and said in a low voice, "I nearly lost you too. Seems to be the edge we live on, you and I."

"Well," Rose smiled and looked up towards the console above them, "You know it's always you two, isn't it? The Doctor and the TARDIS. Off to see the universe."

The Doctor smiled and followed her gaze briefly before looking back at her and catching her eye, "That is true, but something else is true too."

Rose tilted her head to the side and raised a questioning eyebrow, "What's that then?"

"I believe the TARDIS agrees with me on something." He reached out and took her hand in his, "It's the TARDIS, the Doctor, and their Rose. Off to see the universe." He grinned at her, "You promised us forever, and don't be thinking that either of us are going to be forgetting that."

"That's good. Cause I'm not going anywhere." Rose reached forward with her free hand and grasped one of his bracers, tugging him towards her, rewarding him with a smile when he complied. She lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck, enjoying the feeling of his hands settling on the small of her back. "-Sexy- here," Rose grinned teasingly at him as she emphasized the name, "She reminded me of something that I think we forget sometimes while we are off traveling through time."

The Doctor reveled in the feeling of Rose resting against him, wrapped in his arms and smiled as he asked the expected question, "What's that?"

"We don't get back the time we waste." She watched his face for a moment as he puzzled out what that might mean and saw the light dawning slowly. She enjoyed his facial expression for a moment, a mix of hope and caution, then she stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his. Whatever issues they still had would work themselves out.

For now, they should be done wasting time.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N- Sorry for the wait. Work has been crazy. Also sorry that this chapter is a tad on the short side. Hopefully Mass Effect 3 won't push me too terribly far behind. Thank you so much for people reading and following the story, and thank you to FogsBlue, JollyRoger1, BeshterAngelus, solemnly-up-to-no-good, and jo13 for taking the time to let me know what you think. I hope people continue to enjoy, we are heading off into original story bits. Yay.

I own nothing. Not even this computer... I'm at work.

* * *

><p>Rose woke up in stages, first she became aware of the feeling of an unexpected warmth in the bed beside her, and then she heard the noise of what sounded like a page being turned. She opened her eyes a tiny bit, and looked up to see the Doctor sitting up beside her in bed. He was reading a very large book, and the script on the side was the swirling untranslated writing that she had come to associate with Gallifreyan. She knew he had to be aware that she was awake, and appreciated the concern that he showed by allowing her a moment to collect her wits. She was aware that she was in the Doctor's bed, and although she felt herself flush slightly at the memories that seemed to be returning to her sleep addled brain, there was none of the guilt or even embarrassment that she would have anticipated feeling after taking such a step.<p>

She stretched and rolled over onto her side, looking up at the Doctor as he set the book aside and looked down at her. She could see in his searching gaze that he was concerned about those feelings she might have had. She grinned at him, setting his mind at ease.

The Doctor's relief was probably more apparent than he would have wanted it to be as he said in a low voice, "Good morning. I had forgotten how long you humans needed to sleep. You have been unconscious for seven hours and forty-six minutes." He smiled and scooched down so that he was on the same level as her, laying on his side facing her.

Rose made a face and reached across to toy with the collar of his dress shirt. He had apparently gotten partially dressed. She looked down and saw that he was wearing his pants, but no socks, and that he had his dress shirt on unbuttoned over an undershirt. She looked back up and met his eyes. "I'm a bit surprised you stayed. I know how you feel about being in one place so long."

The Doctor looked almost sheepish as he said, "Well, I might have popped off to the library to get a book, and I also might have gone to the kitchen to get a snack." He decided that he wouldn't mention seeing Jack in the kitchen, and being a tad bit mortified by the knowing look on the man's face. He would swear that Jack had some kind of extra sensory ability to sniff out romantic activity. It was incredibly annoying. He reached up and grabbed the hand Rose had placed on his shirt collar and leaned in to kiss her lightly on the forhead. "I wanted to be here when you woke up."

Rose smiled at that and leaned over to rest her head on his chest. "That was really sweet."

"That's me, if there was one word to describe me it would be 'sweet'." The Doctor said flippantly. He shifted slightly so that he could wrap his arms around her as she snuggled closer.

Rose chuckled and shook her head at that, then settled into his embrace contentedly. After a moment she sighed and said into his chest, "Well, I suppose we ought to be getting up and around sometime soon. Jack will be wondering where we are."

The Doctor leaned back so that he could look at her face as he said with a slight wince, "I'm guessing that he will figure that out on his own."

Blushing deeply, Rose groaned and said, "Oh, the teasing..."

Getting a look on his face that Rose hadn't seen on these features of his before, the Doctor leaned in close to her face and kissed her before speaking, "Well, if we are going to have to deal with the teasing..." He leaned back again and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Rose smiled in answer and reached for his shirt again, "Well in that case, there is WAY to much fabric here."

* * *

><p>Jack grinned into his coffee as Rose made her way into the kitchen at what he figured was about midmorning. It was generally difficult to tell what time of day it actually was when you were on the TARDIS. She paused in the doorway and there was a moment of awareness between the two of them before she stuck out her tongue at him and made her way to the counter to make some tea.<p>

He chuckled and shook his head as he took in her slightly rumpled condition. He decided to simply speak of other things, and leave her alone. He was happy enough that the two of them had finally quit tiptoeing around things that he thought he might as well let things slide. Mostly. He took a sip of his coffee and waited for her to get settled with her tea before speaking. "So, late night?" He smirked at her glare and then continued, letting her off the hook without waiting for an answer, "I was wondering what our plans were today? One more trip before you all drop me back in Cardiff? Maybe somewhere without angry beings trying to kill us all?"

The both of them jumped as the Doctor poked his head into the room. "I think that could be arranged." He then grinned at the two of them, having noticed that he succeeded in startling them. He stepped the rest of the way into the room and rocked on his heels a bit, his thumbs tucked into his suspenders.

Rose shook her head at him, "You look entirely too pleased with yourself." She took a drink of her tea before asking, "So where did you have in mind?"

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows haughtily before dropping the expression and smiling widely, "Well, you'll just have to see now, won't you?" He spun on his heel and left the room at that. Presumably for the console room.

Jack shook his head and looked at Rose ruefully, "You sure about that one Rosie? I mean, there's always me." He grinned as she smacked the back of his head as she walked by, then stood and followed her from the room.

* * *

><p>When Jack and Rose came into the console room they found the Doctor manically pressing buttons and pulling levers as usual, and Rose smiled gently as she took a seat on the jumpseat and waited for the big reveal on where exactly he was planning on taking them.<p>

Jack settled in beside her and took a drink of the coffee he had brought with him as he crossed his legs. He looked at the Doctor for a moment before asking, "So, any clues?"

"What?" The Doctor looked up at them and shook his head briefly before looking back down at the readout in front of him. His mood seemed to have flattened a bit as he said, "No. No clues, and actually…" He trailed off as the TARDIS suddenly jerked wildly and he was thrown to the ground.

Rose let out a yell as the TARDIS continued to shake violently and the Doctor's unconscious form was thrown roughly against the railing. She hung tightly on to the railing as she moved from the seat and grabbed hold of him, trying to keep him from being too horribly tossed around. She looked over and saw that Jack was fighting a losing battle to stay in the seat as the room seemed to tumble and shake.

When the room settled to a stop, it seemed to be tilted slightly to the left. Rose let go of the Doctor and moved to kneel beside him, turning him over and looking at the bump forming on his head. She looked up at Jack as he came to stand beside them and sighed as she said, "He seems ok, just knocked unconscious. So much for all that superior Time Lord physiology, eh?"

Jack nodded slowly as he took in the concerned look on Rose's face. He went along with her attempt to joke though and smiled slightly, "Old him would have been quite mortified to be knocked out while we're fine." He reached out and helped her to her feet, gesturing to the console as he asked, "Any chance you can use your mumbo jumbo with the TARDIS to figure out what happened? Or where we are?"

Rose pushed her hair out of her face and blew out a heavy sigh before nodding and squeezing Jack's hand briefly before stepping towards the controls and looking at them. She reached out a hand and brushed it against the small view screen, smiling in relief when it came to life. She frowned as she looked at it, tilting her head to the side to match the angle it seemed to be showing.

"Well. This just can't be happening."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN- So, I am back. Sorry for the long delay in updating, my muse went on vacation. Hopefully somewhere nice. Back for the moment though, and hopefully plans to stick around for awhile. Thank you so much to Jo13, Dreamcatcher49, Romanticangel92, FogsBlue, JollyRoger1, jeremybekah, & Eleriel for taking the time to read and review, and thank you for all the alerts and favs. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. **

**As usual, I own nothing.**

Jack stepped behind Rose to look over her shoulder at the view screen, unconsciously mimicking her head tilt as he took in the view outside. "Huh." Was the only noise resembling words that he could form as he saw what could truly only be described as impossible. As useless as that word was when dealing with the world the Doctor occupied. He almost jumped when Rose moved away from the screen and towards the doors. "Woah, woah, what are you doing?"

Rose paused briefly, her expression almost dreamy as she turned to him and he was struck again with the feeling of fate or destiny that sometimes seemed to surround this new Rose. At that moment he missed the uncomplicated girl from the estate he had met so very long ago with a pain in his heart that was almost more physical than emotional. However… Rose was Rose. He knew he would love her no matter what she became. He broke eye contact with her to look down at the prostrate form of the Doctor and knew that he wasn't the only person to feel that way, albeit in a slightly different way. He looked back up at Rose and said, "You know what he would say?"

Tilting her head to the side with some bemusement as she watched Jack struggle with some internal thought, Rose smiled at him as he asked his question. "Oh god, oh god we're all going to die?"

Jack tried not to laugh, but shook his head chuckling as he stepped over to join her. "I was thinking more along the lines of, 'Do not go out there under any circumstances, or a paradox of unprecedented proportions… blah, blah blah.'" He came to a stop beside her at the door and angled himself to block he door slightly until he had her response.

Rose looked at him carefully and asked, "Are you honestly trying to keep me from going out there?"

"Not exactly. I might be slightly worried about that paradox thing though." He raised an eyebrow at her, "Going to try to relieve my concern at all here?"

"Did you see them? Did you see them scared and uncertain out there?" Rose was almost accusing as she asked. She brushed him and his half hearted attempt to detain her aside as she pushed the doors opened and stepped out blinking into the harsh sunlight. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes and looked at the view she had seen on the screen without the aid of technology.

There were four… no, five TARDIS's in sight. One had been behind the one she had arrived in. Milling around in the punishing sunlight were several people she had not thought to see any time soon. Martha and Donna were hovering near the opened doors of the TARDIS they had arrived in, a teenaged girl that a part of her soul recognized as Ace was standing by the doors of another holding a baseball bat and looking uncertainly at the people around her. An impossibly young Sara-Jane was approaching a regal looking brunette in a scarf that had the same feeling to Bad Wolf's soul as the Doctor.

Rose tilted her head as she looked at the fifth TARDIS and wondered why no one had come out. She approached it, not really taking note of the silence that accompanied her as she approached the doors and paused beside them. The unknown brunette was extremely interested as Rose held her hand against the worn blue wood for a moment before the doors popped open. Rose entered the comfortingly familiar console room and saw a slumped form on the floor and instantly understood why there was no wary companion at the door of this TARDIS looking out. She looked at the lonely figure of the ninth Doctor and moved carefully to his side. She knelt there for a moment remembering a time so many years ago that it was hard to know exactly how many. She had been in the alternate universe, before she and John had truly become a couple, when she was still doubtful about who he was to her. She had taken him out for dinner the night after his first successful mission for Torchwood, and he had looked at her over the dinner of fish and chips that they had been sharing.

She remembered looking into John's eyes and almost believing after three drinks that they were the Doctor's eyes. She had looked into those timeless depths and asked a question that she knew had taken him by surprise. "When did you know?" She had asked, almost slurring her speech in her sightly drunken state. She shook her head and clarified the question before he had the chance to wonder what she had meant. "When did you know you loved me?" She looked at him blearily, almost daring him to come up with a response that would prove him something other than the impostor she subconsciously thought he was.

John had looked at her with his deep brown eyes for a moment and then had done something that had completely surprised her, considering their current lack of emotional intimacy. He had actually answered her. Honestly from his memories as the Doctor she wouldn't believe he was. "When we were on Downing street… I remember…" He pause for a moment… his new human metabolism having difficulty with the alcohol he had consumed. "I remember looking at you as you told me to do it. Whatever was required to save the world. I remember looking at you, and truly realizing what it would mean to save the entire human race and lose you. One measly human. Rose Tyler…" He had swallowed and in her addled state she had watched his adam's apple bob as he swallowed, remembering. "I realized that that wasn't ok. Beyond general protectiveness. I realized that I honestly could not live if you didn't." He had looked away from her then for a moment before looking back at her, "Do you honestly realize what I was when I found you Rose Tyler? Honestly truly?" She remembered shaking her head in bemusement, Unconsciously inviting him to continue. The Doctor had gained some momentum and was pressing the advantage he hand't quite realized he had had.

"What I was Rose, was lost. I was lost and angry. And for the first time in an impossibly long time I finally had something to live for that didn't matter to another being aside from myself." He had paused then, looking away. His eyes had scanned the restaurant briefly. Taking in all of these scenes of normalcy that he had always thought himself denied. "And then it kept slapping me in the face. Seeing people in love, talking about sharing taxis at two in the morning. Then in Utah… I almost lost you again." He frowned then remembering. "And you and your pretty boys Rose. That was a trial. Trying not to act like it bothered me that way. Because there you were, all pink and yellow and human and innocent. And there I was, a destroyer of worlds. The Oncoming Storm. I had no right to you." He finally looked at her again, meeting her eyes nervously and wondering if he had gone to far with the fragile way things were between them. He had found her crying silently and shaking her head.

They had been married two weeks later, causing Jackie to throw one hell of a conniption fit over being expected to throw a wedding worthy of the Vitex heiress at such short notice. Rose shook herself from her memories and reached out a hand, gently brushing his very short hair back from his forehead. She stood carefully and brushed her hand lightly over the console as she passed it, stepping back outside to meet Jack and join him in looking at the others who had come slightly nearer to them.

Martha was looking at her face with slightly pursed lips as she seemed to recognize who she was, and Donna was eyeing her carefully as she took in Martha's reaction to her. Rose came closer to them, Jack following on her heels and Martha nodded to herself as she confirmed what she was thinking. "You're Rose." She made the statement with an almost complete lack of inflection.

Jack had come to a stop beside Rose and said with an eyebrow raised, "Good to see you again too Martha."

Martha looked at him and then sighed with resignation. "So we have met then? Rose does come back." She turned almost unconsciously back towards the TARDIS and Donna came forward eagerly.

"Oy, You're her! Spaceman is going to be so happy!" She smiled widely and then gave Jack an appraising look.

He responded by smirking slightly and saying, "Hey. I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

Rose looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Seriously Jack? He is so right about you." She smiled at Donna and held out a hand. "It's good to meet you Donna Noble." She caught Donna's amused look and only then realized that she had unconsciously imitated the Doctor's habit of using both the first and last name of a person.

Donna grinned and shook Rose's hand, "It's definitely good to know we've already met. I have been so curious."

Feeling her smile dim slightly as she remembered what their first meeting had actually involved, Rose nodded and then turned to look at the other three companions that were gathered with them. She found it almost amusing that they seemed to have grouped up according to time period. At least in that all of the people gathered around her here had been companions of the tenth Doctor.

Rose walked towards the others, aware of the others watching as she approached Sarah Jane. The Brunette… When had she started thinking that capitalized she wondered?… The Brunette was looking at her with an odd look of concentration and Rose instinctively sidestepped around her. Sarah Jane was looking at her curiously, and Rose smiled nervously as she stopped in front of her, "We haven't met yet… but I'm Rose."

Sarah Jane smiled back and shook her hand briefly before looking at the others and saying, "I guess you know I'm Sarah Jane. So… There's an unconscious Doctor in each of these TARDIS'… How exactly does one make that plural?" She shook her head and continued without waiting for an answer, "And have all of you lost power?"

Watching as the others murmured their agreement, Rose cautiously remained silent about the state of power in the TARDIS they had come in. She met Jack's eyes and then moved her own over the woman she had decided must be Romana. Something still felt wrong though, and she hesitated to trust her. Perhaps because aside from the Doctor, she understood that the Time Lords were beings to be wary of.

Sensing Rose's reticence, Jack spoke up, taking the lead. "Well, since it seems like the Doctor, all of him, are out of commission for the moment, we should try to figure out what brought us all here. What happened before you all crash landed?"

Ace spoke up, leaning on her baseball bat casually as she answered. "The Professor was about to take us to Barcelona, the planet, and he got a funny look on his face then we crashed here." She looked back at her respective TARDIS with concern obviously etched on her young face then looked back at the others. "He didn't hit his head or anything though, and he passed out. I couldn't get him to wake up."

Rose had watched the girl as she spoke and felt a small part of herself quietly amused by the presence of this one. She felt Bad Wolf as a nearly separate entity for the first time since the incident with the Master, as that part of her soul uncurled slightly, stretching and communicating an image of wolves across her subconscious. She tilted her head to the side and listened as the voices of the others washed over her, describing similar situations that led to them being here. She noticed Jack looking at her with an odd expression, and she focused on the others again. Just in time to catch a disturbingly intrigued look on the Brunette's face. She wondered why she couldn't quite think of her as Romana.

She looked up at the sky and the punishing sun and sighed lightly, why couldn't they get stranded somewhere with non extreme weather?


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- **So, this is a rather brief chapter, but I plan to post more either late tonight or tomorrow. Thank you so much for reading, thanks to those following and favorite-ing. And thank you to FogsBlue, jo13, vampireboysfan, ValaEnVash, JollyRoger1, Velvetpru'd and Luize White for taking the time to let me know what you think.

I don't own Doctor Who. Tragedy and woe and all that.

Rose stood in the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS and fiddled with the controls. She was trying to ignore the unconscious form of the Doctor as she worked. She and Jack had stretched him out on the jumpseat, trying to make him appear more comfortable before she had sent him out to keep an eye on the other companions. She was trying to ascertain what exactly was causing the loss of power and had chosen this control room for the simple fact that it still felt the most familiar.

Martha was leaning on the railing watching her suspiciously and Rose tried to tell herself that it didn't bother her as she pointedly turned her back on the woman and kept working. She wasn't really surprised when Martha spoke, "Why didn't you go to your own TARDIS to do this?" She came closer when Rose didn't respond and looked down at the wires she had exposed. "And what exactly is it you are doing?" She put out a hand to block Rose's progress and Rose lifted her face to meet her eyes, causing Martha to take a step back. Martha looked into those eyes and tried to comprehend the inhuman look in those swirling gold depths, she broke eye contact and shook her head slightly. She looked back up at Rose and bit her lip slightly. "Sorry, I guess I can get a little overprotective."

Rose sighed and nodded, turning back to the console and working quietly for a moment before speaking. "I know it was difficult to be around him when you were. And, believe it or not, but I -am- sorry for the part of that that is my fault." She pulled the view screen around to face her before shoving the wires back in and stepping back in frustration. She looked at Martha and was pleased to sense less hostility. She ran a hand lightly across the console and sighed heavily.

"You can't figure it out?" Martha was pleased to find that she had managed that statement without snideness. She took a step closer and looked at the place where Rose was resting her hand and frowned as she noticed for the first time the rings there. She swallowed the last of her bitter hope and was surprised to find peace in it's wake. She swallowed and met Rose's gaze again, seeing some kind of understanding there that a moment ago would have made her furious. She smiled gently and nodded ay the rings, "They're lovely. They what I think they are?"

Rose lifted her hand and looked at the rings before looking back to Martha, "After a fashion I suppose. It is a bit complicated. I guess it always is with him." She walked over to a spot on the grating and knelt down, opening it and looking down. She sat back on her heels and looked down into the 'guts' of the TARDIS, trying to remember exactly why she had come over here and pulled this grating. She looked up at Martha and said, "You know, you have a brilliant future. I think none of us will remember any of this so I think it's probably safe to tell you. You have an absolutely brilliant life. Married to one of my very favorite people." She looked away from Martha's bemused face and leaned into the hole, inhaling deeply and closing her eyes.

Martha thought she might be imagining things slightly as she saw a wavering shimmer of gold in the air coming from the hole in the grating Rose was hanging down into. Rose sat back up and put the grating back into place before stepping back to the console and smiling brightly as the rotor lit up, albeit dimly. Martha looked on in bemusement as Rose ran her hand lightly up the time rotor and the light seemed to follow her hand almost with a sense of affection. Rose grinned as she pulled the view screen over and it lit up, spewing an unintelligible jumble of text. Rose followed it with her eyebrows lowered in concentration before she spun from the console to stare at the doors, leaving Martha feeling very unsure of what was going on. Rose turned to look at Martha and Martha knew for sure then that she really hadn't been imagining the flecks of gold in her eyes. She remembered what she had overheard between the Doctor and Jack, what felt like ages ago, about Rose absorbing the time vortex.

"It's still in you isn't it?" Martha said in an almost whisper.

Rose nodded, not bothering to pretend that she didn't understand. "Yes it is. It changed me forever."

"Are you like Jack then?" Martha asked, scientific curiosity nearly overwhelming her.

"No… It's different." Rose leaned back against the console and thought for a moment, her tongue caught between her teeth. "Jack… well, he's an impossible thing. He feels wrong, time moves around him in a way that is completely against nature. Which is my fault." Rose paused then and Martha thought back to the Doctor and the TARDIS both trying to escape the american, she also thought back to the easy and obviously loving friendship that he and Rose shared and realized how difficult it would be to know you had done that to him. Rose interrupted her thoughts by continuing. "Where as I… I -am- time, at the same moment that I am outside of it. I am the Bad Wolf." She said that last statement like it needed no further explanation. Rose looked at her then and pushed off from the railing. She looked at the doors again and then turned back to Martha, "I need you to do something Martha, you game?"

Martha nodded and followed Rose's gaze to the door and then back to the now partially working console, "They'll be happy to hear that there's progress."

"We-ell… That's the thing." Rose had turned back to the console and was spared Martha's eye roll at how look the Doctor she had just sounded. Rose continued, "How many TARDIS's do you remember seeing out there Martha Jones?"

Martha frowned and answered slowly, "There were five."

Rose nodded and turned to face her, "Yes, there were. And can you think what's odd about that?"

Thinking, Martha counted off the companions that were there, Martha herself had come with Donna, Rose had come with Jack, there was Sarah Jane, Ace, the one TARDIS that Rose had stepped into had not had anyone come out of it, that meant there was one extra companion. "There's one too many."

Nodding Rose smiled widely, "Exactly. So one of these things is not like the other, and the power from the TARDIS's is being drained, and sent somewhere. So what I need, is a distraction. I can follow the trail, but I need to make sure that no one misses me. Can you help with that do you think?"

Martha nodded carefully, "I could try, but their bound to notice you walking out the front door, don't you think?"

Rose grinned and caught her tongue between her teeth, an expression that Martha couldn't help but answer in kind. Rose nodded to the TARDIS and said,"There's more than one way to leave a TARDIS, he just hasn't figured them out yet."

At Martha's nod, Rose jogged off down a corridor and disappeared into the TARDIS.


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n- **Ok, as promised, sort of a double update. Hope it is enjoyed. Thanks for reading, and for reviewing FogsBlue, Torchwood Cardiff, and JollyRoger1. I hope this doesn't disappoint. I also hope that my attempt at mushing together images for the new cover art feature isn't too horribly abysmal.

I own very little, certainly not the characters I am playing with here.

Rose shoved open the back panel of the TARDIS and wiggled out of the narrow opening, cursing her recent obsession with chips and fish fingers. And custard. Although, definitely not mixed together. Definitely not mixed together she thought with a wince, fish finger custard had to be the nastiest thing since blood pudding. She got out and pushed the panel back into place, settling into a squat and waiting for Martha to come through, hoping like hell she hadn't been been wrong about her.

She listened as Martha convinced the group to step into the empty TARDIS and she frowned at the thought of the invasion before accepting that it was for the best. She leaned around and watched as the last companion filed into said TARDIS before standing and pulling her sonic from her pocket, she spent half a second calibrating it and then held it out, looking at the reading and frowning as she followed it in a path that led away from the small circle of gathered time machines. She eventually got to a small patch of grass that her "doctor sense" told her was more than a tad too flat or something. She stood on it, twirled around once and then jumped slightly.

Nothing happened.

Rose wrinkled her nose and tuned once more while looking at the readout on her sonic. She hit a button and jumped again and was shocked when her feet landed, or rather didn't land on empty space. She closed her eyes and held her arms in close to her body as she waited to land. Rose kept her eyes screwed tightly shut as she came to a stop, landing roughly in a heap. She slowly disentangled her limbs and stood, squinting into the darkness around her, Rose held up her sonic and frowned at the readings it seemed to be giving off. She held up her arm, and the sonic and took a few cautious steps forward. She stopped suddenly as the lights finally came on around her. She looked around cautiously as she lowered her sonic, looking at the various control panels around her.

The screen nearest her seemed to wink to life and Rose had her hand to the control panel as there was a sudden sound behind her. She looked around and was unsurprised to see the Brunette standing regally at the bottom of the shaft she had fallen down. Looking disturbingly unruffled.

The Brunette took a step towards her and swept out a hand, silencing any alarms that had sounded. She took a few more steps and reached a hand out to caress Rose's cheek almost gently. "Who, or what, exactly are you? You are more than human, child."

Shivering, Rose took a step away and held her hands out almost warningly, "The better question, is what the hell are you?"

"I should think you already know that, creature of time." The Brunette smiled in a slightly uncanny way and Rose took a step back.

"You are the Rani." Rose wasn't completely aware of what part of her mind recognized this Time Lord, but she did recognize her as someone who was definitely an enemy. She took a step back and grasped the edge of the ledge behind herself, prepared to listen to the megalomaniacal ranting of yet another being that fancied itself eternal.

The Rani looked at Rose with interest for a moment and then approached the controls in the room, monitoring the readouts and turning to smile at Rose. "The readings are almost full. I only needed the energy of a few TARDIS's to gather enough to accomplish my plans. And I am there." She stopped and leaned against the wall, still looking at Rose threateningly. "I am however, almost more interested in what you are at the moment than the energy."

Rose sighed and leaned back herself, wondering where exactly this was going. "Well, in that case… You could let them all go, yeah?"

"I don't think that is entirely necessary, especially since you are sitting right here within my grasp." The Rani came forward and passed closely by Rose before coming to a stop by a console. There were at least two TARDIS's shown taking off in the small view screen. Rose frowned at the sight, wondering why the Rani was letting some of them leave. Seeming to sense something of Rose's thoughts, the Rani spoke, "I have no desire to cause a paradox. I am neither insane nor stupid. Those TARDIS's containing their insufferable Doctor's will go on, continuing to wreak havoc with time. Meddlers that they are. I just needed to borrow them for a small moment. They won't even remember."

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish then, if not some kind of paradox?" Rose asked, genuinely curious. She knew that the Rani was most certainly not her friend, but it was interesting to talk to a Time Lord who wasn't the Doctor, and wasn't ranting like a madman.

The Rani smiled slightly and opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of the hatch being used again. Her face darkened and she moved towards the back of room, disappearing from view as Rose turned to see who was coming down. She rushed forward as the gangly form of the ninth Doctor settled to a stop at the bottom of the chute. Must be a Time Lord thing, she thought crossly as she got closer to him.

"How did you wake up?" She asked without preamble.

The Doctor looked at her with his eyes narrowed. "Well, if it isn't Rose, Rose Tyler." He stepped further into the room, brushing past her and looking at the machinery. "As for how I woke up, or even how I came to be unconscious for that matter… No idea." He turned back to her and gestured to her briefly, "First thing I remember after leaving you with Ricky the idiot, was waking up to a very loud ginger woman slapping me up cross the face." He pulled out his sonic then, somewhat predictably and continued, "Slapping me rather soundly and screeching something about them all leaving without us."

Rose tilted her head to the side curiously and was about to question him further when there was a loud "Umph!" and they both turned to see Donna in a heap at the bottom of the hatch. Rose hurried over to help Dona untangle herself while the Doctor looked on impatiently.

Donna looked up at Rose as she had grasped her hand to help her up, and had a sudden and deep sense of deja vu. "But, what's your name?" She found herself muttering and was intrigued by the stricken, almost guilty look on Rose's face as Donna let her help her up.

They stood for a moment when Donna would have sworn that Rose said under her breath, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Donna was about to ask what she meant when the Doctor finally saw fit to interrupt. "Oy, are you two done yet? In a bit of a pickle here." He gestured and looked at them with his eyebrows raised, "Bad guy to chase and all that…" He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest impatiently.

"All right all right, we're coming." Rose said mildly. She stepped away from Donna, the moment between them broken.

"You just be patient spaceman, and get us out of this." Donna straightened her shirt and came further into the room. She felt her eyes widen as she took in all the view screens. "What's this then?"

The Doctor paused in his scanning of the room and looked at her, "That's a good question. Fantastic even. You said you travel with the next me?"

Rose stepped to the nearest screen and interrupted the conversation. "Not worried about spoilers, Doctor?"

He looked at Rose and narrowed his eyes. "Might be. Might be more interested in what you're doing her though. Didn't you say no?"

She smiled and he couldn't help grinning back as she said, "Well, that's because you forgot something, stupid."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue. Rose grinned, her tongue touching her teeth before she said, "You forgot to mention that she travels -in time-."

"Did I? Well, that was right daft of me then wasn't it." The Doctor turned to a screen and started fiddling with the controls, "Any idea what she was doing here then, Rose Tyler?"

Rose shook her head and looked over his shoulder as he worked, "No, she was about to tell me I think, before you showed up. All I know is that she was taking energy from the TARDIS's for something."

The Doctor had fallen silent as he read the script that passed along the screen, and he looked down at what he was reading in alarm for a moment before Donna interrupted him. Unable to stand it any more she had said, "Oy, spaceman! What is it? You look dead serious."

He looked up at her, wondering why future him seemed to enjoy being berated before answering. "She's trying to end the Time War."


End file.
